


Then and Now

by gourdier



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 13:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20064667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gourdier/pseuds/gourdier
Summary: Riku conducts some surveillance in the digital Twilight Town.





	Then and Now

“Keep an eye on it,” DiZ commands and Riku goes.

Being digitized isn’t so different from giving himself to the darkness. It’s something that Riku considers himself something of an expert in, however unwilling. The prickling feeling as his body is disassembled and rearranged is the same and his vision goes dark, briefly, before he finds himself somewhere else.

There is something to be said for his frequent trips into the simulated Twilight Town though – they don’t hurt nearly as much.

Riku walks into a side street just in time to see Roxas flit by, followed by the other three kids DiZ had copied from the real Twilight Town. Here, as in there, they seem inseparable.

He doesn’t bother going after them, choosing instead to reappear where he knows they always end up. He settles into a shadowy corner where his dark cloak blends into the shadows, crosses his arms, and watches the entrance to their “secret base”.

It’s nothing like the hidden cave back on Destiny Islands, he thinks to himself. It’s lived-in and cozy, knick-knacks dumped at random into large crates, and a beaten sofa for them to rest in. The cave behind the waterfall had been a hideaway for children, the walls scribbled over and toys and loose objects scattered over the mossy floor. And it was where he had found the door that had been the start to everything.

The nostalgia curdles in Riku’s chest. He forces himself to breathe in and out slowly instead of remembering the whispering pull of darkness and old regrets. They should be here soon.

Roxas reaches the base first, slowing to a jog and waiting for his friends outside. Riku doesn’t think he even notices how abnormal his running speed is, outpacing other people in this virtual world.

His friends arrive not long after, panting hard and ribbing at each other, then at Roxas when they get close.

“No fair Roxas! Tell me how you got so fast,” One of them wheedles and when Roxas laughs, he sounds light and carefree and so familiar that Riku’s heart aches.

It feels cruel, this lie that they find themselves caught in. Roxas laughs with his familiar voice with his imaginary friends and Riku is so often reminded these days of a time before keyblades and Ansem and sleeping best friends.

“C’mon Hayner, don’t be a sore loser. Cough up the munny, just like you promised.”

It’s strange, he muses, to hear Roxas sound just like any kid running around on Twilight Town’s peaceful streets when, out in the real world, Riku had only known him with a keyblade in his hand and accusations in his voice. He’s not used to seeing this other side of what is supposed to be the same person.

“Nobodies are reactionary,” DiZ had explained. “In the absence of a heart to guide them, they rely on their memories and the environment around them to determine how they think they should feel and act accordingly. Change their memories, surround one with a different environment, and of course their behaviour will follow suit.” He had scoffed. “Such simple creatures.”

Riku had shifted uncomfortably during the lecture and didn’t voice his objection that DiZ might be wrong. Roxas’ laugh is full and genuine for all that everything around him isn’t. And not just that – his anger and confusion, that had been real too.

Riku may not know Roxas, but he knows Sora (doesn’t that have to count for something?) and he knows rage.

If Naminé’s a clear exception to the rule, can’t Sora’s nobody be one too? Capable of sadness, relief, joy, just as Naminé is? Sora certainly has enough heart in him for two people.

Roxas and his friends have moved into their makeshift hideout and Riku hears their muffled voices from outside. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.

He rematerializes back in DiZ’s basement to the by-now familiar sight of him seated in his swivel chair, eyes narrowed at his glowing screens.

“How is it doing?”

“Everything’s fine,” Riku says flatly in his new voice. He finds he doesn’t speak as much these days. “He’s enjoying his vacation.”

“Of course,” DiZ says. “The dream is everything it would desire. As long as order is maintained, it should be none the wiser. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that Sora is on his way as well. Soon, the keyblade’s hero shall be among us again.”

Riku swallows and looks away from the monitors that weigh two lives side-by-side like some cosmic scale. He can’t find it in him to be happy that he’s helped to tip the balance.

“I should patrol the mansion too,” he forces out, and opens up a portal when DiZ doesn’t object.

On the other side, the light is pale and watery in the aftermath of sunrise. Mist shrouds the mansion’s grounds and fills his nose and mouth with cool, metallic air. He looks up at the orange-tinged sky and sighs, heavy, tired.

“It’s almost been a year,” he murmurs. “Everyone has to wake up sometime.”


End file.
